


Maybe in Heaven

by Rysler



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-18
Updated: 2011-04-18
Packaged: 2017-10-18 08:46:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/187070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rysler/pseuds/Rysler





	Maybe in Heaven

Dr. Keller's Log, March 5, 2007

My watch tells me it's March 5. It also tells me it's 4:40 P.M., and it's pitch black outside and I can see stars. There's a constellation we've named Orion. Three stars. An arrow at the end of the belt, though. And no shoulders. I imagine a Centaur.

Anyway, Sam--Colonel Carter--tells me things must be getting worse. I can't tell. It's been two weeks since we lost contact with the 'Gate. The Daedalus should have been here by now. Someone should have contacted us.

Atlantis must be busy. Colonel Carter thinks the Wraith that took our space gate must have followed our trail home somehow. But I think they're just busy.

Or they've written us off for dead.

If anyone finds this, we've calculated the current population at 24,000 across three hamlets, all within a day's journey. All within the same valley system. Estimates are that 10,000 were culled.

That's why we came. To help.

Some help we are now, four idiots with a cloaked puddle jumper and a week's worth of medical supplies. We can't replace 10,000.

But tomorrow I'm to help with the threshing. It's fall and the days are short.

Keller out.

* * *

Jennifer swallowed two Advil. She tried not to move anything other than her throat. "It's supposed to stop hurting after the first few days, isn't it?"

"You're the doctor," Sam said.

"You're the doctor." Jennifer bumped her shoulder, and then winced in pain. "Jesus. I hate going off-world."

Sam gave her a pained look and then resumed her study of the mountain range.

Jennifer felt guilty. She said, "It's hard to believe there's trouble, when it's so beautiful here."

The low afternoon light made the purples and the oranges of the mountain-tops stand out. Just like home. The air was pure here. Just the right number of particles. Just the right angle. Jennifer inhaled. Pain shot through her chest.

Threshing--She was not a girl meant for threshing.

"I know what you mean," Sam said.

Jennifer glanced at her profile.

Sam had no idea what she meant.

She took Sam's elbow and started down the hill. "Come on."

"Really, if we're keeping watch, it should be up here--"

"Keeping watch for what? The Wraith came, they saw, they conquered. Ronon found something on a scouting trip."

"It's cold--" Sam protested.

Jennifer ignored her, and eventually Sam's strides equaled hers and she could let go of Sam's arm and concentrate on picking her way down the path. Under the tree canopy the light was duskier.

"I've been talking with the villagers," Jennifer said.

"Mm."

"They say the river has healing properties."

"Fresh water often does," Sam said.

Jennifer rolled her eyes. "All I know is that it takes the aches away. You must hurt, too."

"I'm fine."

"Sam, you're not--" Jennifer sighed. Now was not the time to tell the big bad leader that every single person on the planet could tell the stress was killing her. She changed tactics. "As your doctor, I'm telling you, get in the curative waters."

The path took them to a pool at the base of a waterfall. A little waterfall--ten feet high, maybe. Something they could raft over, and laugh, soaked in the spray, and float until the rapids down below, the ones that ran past the village where children would stand out on the rocks, fishing.

The pool had reflections cast by the falling sunlight. That, and the soothing white noise of the perpetual waterfall, made the area provincially pretty. In daylight and moonlight it was even more attractive, but even stranded on a distant plant with nothing to do, Sam was hard to schedule.

Keller unzipped her flight jacket.

Sam balked. "If everyone knows about it--"

"Then maybe we'll have company," Keller said, and smiled coquettishly. She dropped her jacket and started on her pants.

Sam surrendered, stripping down to her skivvies like a trained soldier. Keller wished she would have timed her.

"Everything," she said.

Sam shook her head.

"Come on. Wet underwear is gross." She stepped out of hers, and stood between Sam and the water, feeling shy--and cold--but hopefully looking nymph-like.

"Why are you here, again?" Sam asked, pulling off her bra.

"Medical reasons."

"Right." Sam took a step toward the water. "And me?"

"Who knows? I'm sure you wish you sent Rodney," Jennifer said.

Sam grinned. "He and Sheppard are testing a new defense matrix for Atlantis. Helping people would take him away from his precious project."

"That's kind of what I heard," Jennifer said.

"Oh, Jennifer." Sam lunged at her.

Jennifer squeaked, dancing backward, slipping in the mud along the bank. Sam caught her arms and they twisted together, sliding down into the muddy water.

"Agh," Sam said. She squirmed past Jennifer, swimming to where the water was clearer and cleaner.

Jennifer followed her, trying not to touch the pool's bottom. Mushy and interspersed with sharp things. Oh, how she hoped they were rocks.

Sam splashed her as she approached.

Jennifer ducked down and then pushed off, hitting Sam in the stomach. Sam caught her again and dragged her under the waterfall, so they were both soaking wet and sputtering and choking. The sound of the water deafened Jennifer. She closed her eyes, sensing nothing but the icy spray, until Sam drew her back past the water into the cool cavern under the overhang.

"I think I'm getting numb," Jennifer said.

"Better than aching, right?"

"Oh, right. Sure." Jennifer carefully put her feet down and stood. The water came up to her abdomen. She folded her hands over her breasts.

Sam looked at her, and then the water, and sighed.

"What is it?" Jennifer asked.

"I just feel--I should be doing something. Anything. To get us back. I can't give up."

"You need your mental and physical health if you're going to get us out of this mess," Jennifer said.

"I know that." Sam shook her head. "Okay, I don't know that. I need to plow through, walk it off. Every second has always mattered."

"Okay," Jennifer said, moving toward Sam, shivering, wrapping her arms around Sam's neck.

Sam generously held her. Jennifer felt like they were seals, huddled together for some kind of slippery, rubbery warmth. Night was falling, and inside the cave there was total darkness. Jennifer reached up to cup Sam's jaw.

"You know," she said, feeling Sam's tenseness against her body. "There is the possibility that we're already dead, and this is heaven."

Sam snorted.

Jennifer tugged on her jaw until Sam turned toward her. They couldn't quite see, but Jennifer gazed at the place she thought Sam's eyes might be, and Sam's arms tightened around her waist.

"That isn't a possibility," Sam said.

"No? It happened as soon as we stepped through the gate, and the Wraith, the puddle jumper, that's all just your brain unable to let go. Looking for a logical solution."

"Some sort of gate accident?"

Jennifer shrugged.

"And my idea of heaven is being stuck on a mourning planet with you, Teyla, and Ronon, right at harvest time."

Jennifer didn't say anything, just leaned up and kissed the damp skin of Sam's jaw. She pressed her lips there until Sam sighed and turned her head, so her warm breath fell onto Jennifer's cheek.

"I suppose believing it for five minutes wouldn't hurt," Sam said.

"It's therapeutic."

"Oh, shut up." Sam kissed her.

Jennifer melted into the kiss, putting her hand on the back of Sam's head, closing her eyes and opening her mouth. Sam's tongue offered her heat and Jennifer took it, letting Sam invade. Her nipples hardened against Sam's breasts. Her teeth chattered and after she accidentally bit Sam's lip, Sam pulled back.

"I didn't know you were--" Jennifer started.

"I didn't know you were, either." Sam sounded breathless. She moved her hands to Jennifer's sides.

"Maybe we all are in heaven, in some Aristotlean-sense--Mff."

Jennifer stumbled back as Sam kissed her again. She clung to Sam's shoulders. Sam pushed her against the rock wall at the back of the shallow cavern. Her hand moved to Jennifer's stomach, and then lower.

"Yes."

Jennifer breathed the word against Sam's lips. Better than biting. She kissed Sam and then hissed as Sam's fingers touched her. She lifted her knee--

"The other one," Sam mumbled.

Jennifer shifted balance, hooking her right leg around Sam's, hoisting herself up and open as best she could, numb and hot and cold, pulling Sam's head down for another heated, hungry kiss.

Then Sam was inside her. She had such perfect, perfect fingers. Jennifer groaned, pressing the back of her head against the rock. Sam held her leg with one hand and thrust with the other, her thumb teasing Jennifer's curls and then slipping below.

Jennifer's legs ached. She couldn't help much with balance, not with the way Sam was touching her. They were precarious, but they didn't fall over. No crashing into the water. Maybe that was one of the properties of heaven.

"Oh, God, Sam. If you move your hand just a little--"

"Here?"

"No."

"Here?"

"Just to the left--Oh, God."

The sensations became so intense Jennifer didn't care if she hit her head or drowned herself. She gave herself entirely over to Sam. Sam pressed--she sure learned fast--and coaxed from Jennifer the orgasm she'd been seeking all afternoon. Jennifer shivered, letting Sam hold her against the wall.

"My," Jennifer said. Sagging, she opened her eyes to darkness.

Sam helped her into a more independent standing position and Jennifer, finding her footing, hugged Sam close.

"You seem so surprised," Sam said, "For someone who orchestrated this."

"I expected it to happen. I didn't expect it to be good."

"Previous experiences you'd like to share?"

Jennifer kissed Sam's cheek, and then her neck. "Not right now."

Sam cleared her throat.

Jennifer pushed Sam into the waterfall. Sam sputtered, protesting, but Jennifer maneuvered her out into the open pool.

"People will see," Sam hissed.

Jennifer smiled.

In the starlight, out of the cavern, she could make out Sam's features. Sam was sulking, with her arms folded, and her blonde hair pushed back and sticking to her neck and shoulders.

"I have an idea," Jennifer said.

"Oh, an idea." Sam tossed her head.

Jennifer took a deep breath and sank into the water. She grabbed Sam's thighs, and Sam obliged by taking her shoulders, offering her ballast. Jennifer found the crux of Sam's hips and opened her mouth. Water flooded in, and then she felt Sam against her lips and her tongue. She imagined she could taste salt through the murky silt. She licked. Sam pressed closer.

She licked, without much aim or guidance, for as long as she had air, and though Sam's legs were shaking against her, when she pushed up out of the water, Sam's expression was doubtful. She spit water.

"That's not going to work," Jennifer said.

"Try again," Sam said, grinning.

Jennifer kissed her mouth instead, and whispered, "I have another idea."

"That's what makes you a good scientist."

The unexpected compliment warmed Jennifer through and she nearly forgot her idea. She kissed Sam's chest.

"Float," she commanded.

Sam looked around.

"Please?"

Sam sighed and closed her eyes. She spread her arms to the sides. Water dripped from her breasts. Her hair, in wet, corded tendrils, held a mermaid essence. She rotated her neck, and Jennifer inhaled at the sight of her throat, stretched and long. Then Sam fell back into the water. She sank underneath it, and then reemerged, horizontal, her ears covered but her mouth breathing. Her eyes fluttered open.

Jennifer moved between Sam's legs. The desire to lift them and shove Sam, head-and-shoulders-first, into the water was momentarily overwhelming. She hesitated, then shook herself free of the idea, and sank down instead into the water, up to her neck. Sam's legs closed against her shoulders. The movements felt timid. Jennifer wondered if Sam, too, was struggling with a desire to drown her.

She smiled and lowered her mouth, full of warm air instead of water, and kissed Sam.

Sam's legs tensed, but didn't squeeze. Jennifer used her tongue. She was suddenly, achingly home sick, wishing she could do this in her own quarters, on her own standard-issue-military sheets, where there was more of her and Sam and home than just their bodies. She had to remember again to breathe, deeply, before exploring.

Sam offered no guidance, said no words. Jennifer didn't know what she was thinking, only that she was gazing upward, maybe looking at their Orion, or hoping for satellites. Her hips began rocking, sending gentle waves around them, creating currents, sending heat toward and away from Jennifer's lips.

Then she stopped moving altogether, rigid with tension, and Jennifer sucked, rising to meet the potential energy, coiled within Sam. Promising Sam with her lips that she could capture the release.

"Jennifer."

Jennifer gulped air, and then sank into the water, pulling Sam's hips against her, giving all of herself to Sam's pleasure. The scream sounded muffled to her ears, filling with water. She wished she could see Sam looking up at the sky as she came.

Then Sam twisted away and swam upright. Jennifer joined her, close, not quite meeting her eyes.

"It's picturesque," Sam said. "Maybe even healing. So tell me, doctor, why could I only think of home?"

Jennifer shrugged. She took Sam's hand. Sam squeezed gently.

"So let's go home," Jennifer said.

They went to the bank and kissed and shook and tussled until they were drip-dry. They dressed--Sam acknowledging Jennifer had been right about dry underwear--and they hiked back to civilization.

The shack they shared with Ronon and Teyla was at the edge of a field of wheat. The prior occupants had been culled. All the other culled homes had been burned. The aliens weren't to be trusted. But they were needed, at least for harvest season.

Burning the witches would probably come later.

For now, Ronon and Teyla sat inside at the kitchen table. The room was filled with the intense, buttery scent of--

"Is that popcorn?"

"We decided," Teyla said, "That tonight is the night."

"You two have fun on your walk?" Ronon rumbled.

"Oh, fabulous," Jennifer said. She reached for popcorn.

Teyla pushed the bowl closer.

Sam sat down by the window. She picked up the binoculars on the sill.

"What are you doing, Sam?" Teyla asked.

"I'm hoping to get some stronger beacons set up in the next week. I'm wondering which mountains would give us the best action."

Ronon went over and tugged at the binoculars strap. "I'll triangulate. You eat."

"You don't really have to--"

"I know how to do it," Ronon said.

Sam smiled. "You probably do."

"Try me."

She surrendered the binoculars and went to sit by Teyla.

"We have learned some interesting gossip," Teyla said. "It seems Jacon's son has a thing for the daughter of a neighboring village, and…"

Jennifer let the words wash over her, just as the water had, believing they could heal her. And if she closed her eyes, maybe they would take her home.

END


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